Thursday, October 21, 2004

I was asked to give my opinion of those ostensibly captured documents from Saddam's intelligence service. And I said: "But having looked at the documents: there are some problems, although I am not ready to make a judgment either way about authenticity. But on p. 6, for example, he refers to a group by Abu Dawud, and his "perpetration of Fida'i activities" while in reality the man (Abu Dawud) had long retired, and has not been known to have been involved in any acts since the 1980s. The one document that refers to to "hunting down" Americans in Somalia is most odd in phraseology: the verb used (iqtinas) is never used in Arabic in that context." But for those who know Arabic, you may judge for yourselves. (thanks Christopher).